清方は、昭和29年（1954）の文化勲章受章の年に、喜寿を迎えました。よき事が二つ重なった記念に、「喜」の字と、文化勲章の意匠としてあしらわれている橘の実と葉を本作に描きました。
そして同年12月に、鎌倉・雪ノ下に終の棲家を構えました。

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Seventy-seventh Birthday (1954)
ink and pale color on paper; hanging scroll
27.0 x 24.0 cm

Kiyokata celebrated his seventy-seventh birthday in 1954, the year he was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit. The painting depicts leaves and a fruit of the tachibana citrus arranged in the same design as the Order of Cultural Merit, with the character ki (joy), to commemorate two auspicious events.
In December the same year, he moved to Yukinoshita in Kamakura, where he lived until his death in 1972.